I've lost about 8kg (16 pounds) since I started NoS (mid June?). That's out of an original 111kg. Sometimes I see it. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I sit prodding my jaw and wondering if it feels bonier. Occasional people notice the weight loss, but I don't always trust all of them (one of them says it every time she sees me and I'd only increased for the last 7 years before this).

I'm an articled clerk in the property law division of a fairly large firm. Today, one of the solicitors from family law was at our end of the floor and made a deliberate trip to my office to tell me that I was looking great and that everyone in family law has noticed how much weight I've lost. The family law people are terribly nice, but I hardly every see them. Still feeling a little taken aback. And grinning.

But I had decided that when I'd lost 10% of my starting weight, I'd get a hair cut. I'm approaching that goal more rapidly than I expected, and am not ready to cut my hair. So now I have to think of a new celebration. Maybe a shoulder massage. Or a set of digital scales to avoid the bobbing, ducking, contortionism required to try and read the divisions on the current ones without tipping the balance. So worries never end...

Congratulations on your weight loss. 8kgs is a fantastic achievement. I'm sure you'll think of something to reward yourself. Massage sounds good, I'd go for the full body one. I haven't had one for years but its the most relaxing feeling. Unless you have a deep tissue massage - they apparently leave you all bruised.
Not long to go and you'll be in the 90s.

Thanks, Snazzy. That sounds even better! (It must be terrible to be an American and only able to convert downward

Something that puzzles me is - I eat quite a bit, three substantial meals, and am rarely hungry anymore. I am losing weight at a reasonable rate. I did go through the stage of enjoying food many times more, and being afraid there weren't enough mealtimes (at a rate of 3 a day) to try all the delicious foods out there. Now I don't think about food much at all. But a question keeps bugging me: if I'm losing weight eating this much of whatever-I-like... what was I eating before???

Something that puzzles me is - I eat quite a bit, three substantial meals, and am rarely hungry anymore. I am losing weight at a reasonable rate. I did go through the stage of enjoying food many times more, and being afraid there weren't enough mealtimes (at a rate of 3 a day) to try all the delicious foods out there. Now I don't think about food much at all. But a question keeps bugging me: if I'm losing weight eating this much of whatever-I-like... what was I eating before???

What were you eating before?? Perhaps you were just snacking everyday and not just on S days like now. Its great to hear that you are eating well, not thinking about food, not hungry all the time and losing weight too. You must be proud of yourself.

The other day I ran in to a woman at work that I hadn't seen for months. We stood in the hallway talking and she kept looking me up and down, up and down (I was sort of tempted to say something like "Hey! My chest doesn't talk... look up here!" You know kind of a role reversal thing. But I refrained because she's really Southern-proper, and would have been appalled).

Anyway, I realized she was trying to decide if my obvious weight loss was something she could mention... like she thought maybe it was due to illness. Or maybe she figured that mentioning it would imply that she'd looked closely enough at me to notice.

The moral of the story is some folks just will not mention that you've lost weight, even if it's obvious._________________Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

Silverfish, congratulations. It's so nice when it goes beyond a mere numbers game.

Quote:

Or a set of digital scales to avoid the bobbing, ducking, contortionism required to try and read the divisions on the current ones without tipping the balance

My digital scale gives wildly different readings every time I step on it. I think I'd almost prefer the analog bobbing around. I think the digital scale bobs the same way behind the scenes and just arbitrarily settles on a single value in the range with absurdly precise authority.

Speaking of numbers games, Kevin, wow, those are some impressive stats. I should add them to the home page (with appropriate disclaimers) under the header "How much less will I wind up eating?" or something.

Reinhard, please feel free to fix the typo in the second to last sentence of my post ("be" should be "by")._________________Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

Kevin a belated thank you for those stats._________________Hugs from Sunny South AfricaVanilla No S with no Sugar due to Health issues - 11 yrs No S - September 2016 (some good, some bad (my own doing) but always the right thing for me!)

Congratulations Silverfish!! I guess this reply will put your original post at the top of the list again, so maybe if you notice it you can answer a question for me....

I am ending my 7th day of No S'ing, and have been reading other peoples older posts to try and get a feel for the "real" achievements being made by people using the system. I recently read a post by someone who had been No S'ing for 45 days, eating what I would consider an unappealing and meager amount of food, and not losing any weight. I started thinking that maybe this was just another one of those diets that lure you in with the carrot ( you can eat whatever you want in reasonable quantities-don't be an idiot-as long as you stick to the No S rules on N days,and watch yourself on S days) but then start beating you with the stick (Did we say eat whatever you want? We meant half a cup of bran cereal with half a cup of skim milk for breakfast....). Do you get what I mean? Then I read your post and it sounded great. 17+ pounds in three to four months. Awesome. Do you have an idea of what your average daily meals are (please don't say bran cereal with skim milk) and how you use your S days?

You are obviously having success, and I would love to know the parameters that are working for you. Thanks

Your response triggered a thought in my head. Maybe these people eating 'meager amounts of food and still not losing any weight' are still trying to "Diet" rather than to eat sustainably...? The human body is amazingly adaptive, and if you starve it long enough it will try to hang on to its fat reserves for as long as possible!! Maybe that person had come here straight from some crazy 1000 calories a day thing, or maybe they actually DIDN'T NEED to lose any weight cos their body is already too small for their build. (lots of people have very screwed up pictures of what is 'too heavy' and therefore will try to chase unmaintainable and unhealthy weightloss goals)

For me, one of the really beautiful things about the NoS system is that you WILL lose weight if you need to, but if you don't need to lose weight, you won't. Hell, if you need to gain weight, you could even use this as a 'refeeding program' for recovering anorexics! As people's bodies find the proper balance, then their weight will adjust and gradually tend towards their ideal weight for their height, muscle mass and activity level.

If you do this properly, it's foolproof in that respect. It depends only on what is right and healthy for your body, and not what your own, potentially wrong, body image tells you is the 'right' weight for you.

Good points Carole. The other piece I'd add is that hopefully by eating only at meal times and not eating snacks and sweets we become more in touch with our bodies and stomach and signals and hunger, leading to eating the right amount of food for our hunger level and not overeating because although it feels good now it will be uncomfortable later._________________holly
My fitness blogMy Daily Check In thread

My meals used to be larger, but I was losing weight then too - my appetite has adjusted with time. If you get the No-S down strictly, everything else will follow in time. No-S led to realising I couldn't starve in five hours, which led to more sensible food choices, which led to healthier options (not always, but more often than before!), which led to a better appetite which led to smaller meals... etc.

Here's a selection of usual meals:

Various Breakfasts: greek yoghurt with honey&fruit and a slice of toast; two slices of peanut butter toast and a glass of milk; bacon and egg muffin and apple juice; baked beans and cheese on toast

Lunches: Can of soup, toast and a slice of cheese and a glass of milk; Macdonalds Deli Choices roll and orange juice; packaged vegan indian meals (they taste good); deli sandwich and juice (or milk - I like milk!), and usually a piece or two of fruit

Dinners: These are more complicated. I've been eating out a lot recently and do need to cut back. But anything from Chinese (Tuesday night) to pizza and salad (Friday night - I try just to have one slice) to a Maccas happy meal, but if I have the chance to eat at home it is just as likely to be 3 or 4 steamed dimsims with bok choy and/or brussel sprouts, or two minute noodles (I should add, it has been summer and I do not cook in summer).

I find any combination of these is now more than enough, and as my weight loss has slowed I'm going to start tweaking aspects, maybe even exercising.

Mind you, I started at a BMI of 35 (down to 30 now! Hey - I just realised that's halfway to the top* of the "normal" range ) - if you're not as overweight it may take a little more to start losing weight. I'm not sure what other people have found.

*I don't aim to go below 25 (well, I don't at the moment) because I really am "big boned" - broad hands, large wrists, big feet (size 12/13), which are at least not too disproportionate to my height (5'11''), but make me think that anything much below 80kg will make me look too gaunt (don't know for sure, never been there).

I'd be happy just to be size 16/90kg again - but I'm halfway to a "healthy" BMI, and am very happy because I only just found that out!

As things stand, I am feeling much healthier than I did this time last year. I look in mirrors and think sometimes "Still fat but not <i>as</i> fat" and on others that I don't look too bad. It was incredibly pleasing to see photos from our firm's Christmas part and not to want to cringe when I saw myself. I'm just going to go and be cheerful for a little bit.

It's very possible you are big boned, many people are. But you may be surprised! I started my weightloss journey (not on No-S) at a BMI of 30, very much thinking of myself as big boned and just aiming for the very top of the healthy range. When I actually got down to 25, however, I found that my body was quite a bit different than I thought it would be! I'm now at a BMI of 23 and wouldn't mind losing another 5 pounds (though that's purely for astetics). I find I have very average hips, broad shoulders, muscular legs, strong arm, but fat actually melted away from my wrists so I fall halfway between "small" and "medium" frame on the charts!

Eat one plate of anything you want, so long as it's not sweet, three times a day... Don't make this more difficult than it has to be. :0)

For breakfast I eat a bagel with cheese and turkey, some cut up fruit, and coffee. For lunch I eat a sandwich, an apple, a single serving bag of chips, and some cut up raw vegetables, plus a V8 or a flavored water.

For dinner I eat, well, whatever is for dinner. Usually with lots of raw vegetables.

I've lost about 25 pounds since I started (I say about becuase I've added some weight from resistance exercise). I'm losing *very* slowly now, but that's to be expected, I'm approaching my ideal weight.

I do remember that post from that person that wasn't losing. I understand your concern. Most of us were a little puzzled, but there are stranger things in this world... who knows. That poster might just bang through a plateau soon and drop a quick five. Many of us notice that phenomenon.

OK, so I'm the "poster" who had been on for 45 days with no weight loss. I have dropped a total of 5 now. I will have been on No S for 2 full months tomorrow. My plates are full, and so is my stomach at the end of the meal, with one possible exception: dinner. I usually feel like I could keep eating at the end of my meal. Usually a cup or two of decaf solves that little issue.

I honestly don't know why it was taking me so long. Maybe because I don't have that much to lose. My BMI is about 25 so that probably explains the slow rate. I will add, though, that through it all, I wasn't swayed to eat any other way. This is the plan for me, and I finally feel like I have made a lifestyle change. That doesn't mean it's always easy. I usually have at least one struggle a day.

Thanks everyone for answering my question. There are a lot of nice (and patient) people out there.

I love to hear/read about everyone's success. I have a lot of hope. It sounds like I am at the beginning of this journey, and that it will constantly change. Right now, I am just trying to get through 21 days of No S'ing. The rest will have to come later.

Congratulations, that's great news. I'm very impressed that you stuck at it for so long without the reward of seeing the scales move, and very happy that they finally did. So now not only do you have some measurable results to be happy about, but (what's ultimately more important) you've built up a will of iron and deeply grooved good habits.

MJ, you're probably right about losing slower becuase you don't have as far to go. I've noticed that I lost more quicky in the beginning, when I was 40 lbs overweight, but now that I'm within 15 of where I (probably) need to be, I'm losing much more slowly._________________Before criticizing someone, you should try walking a mile in their shoes. Then you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

I am so thankful for the posts that include the average daily meals for successful No-S'ers. I started the No-S lifestyle April 6th, and have two failed days. I was wondering what does an average day look like for successful people on the plan. I am also happy that successful No-S'ers eat a variety of food, and a substantial amount of food. Thanks!